I Woke After 11 Days and Found My 9-Year-Old Grandson Asleep Beside My Hospital Bed—Then He Whispered, “Pretend You’re Still in a Coma”

Piano.

I told her about tomatoes.

Walter.

Pickles, until Pickles died at seventeen and ruined all of us for a month.

When Lisa arrived after Pickles died, she brought no casserole.

Just sat on the couch.

Years earlier I might have interpreted that as doing nothing.

Now I understood sitting can be enough.